Living Forever
by Referee
Summary: Ike and Pit, lovers from the beginning, have a precarious relationship. It seems to rely almost completely on trust. However, what happens when that trust meets a rather bloody interception? Rated M for gore and lang.
1. Living Forever PROLOGUE

**A NOTE ABOUT PAIRINGS:**

Friends, Romans, Countrymen. I do _NOT _ship IkexPit. I actually loathe this pairing. The only reason I even started writing this was A.) Because one of my friends is in love with it. And B.) To introduce a conflict. Sorry, IkexPit fans! Feel free to stick around for the first few chapters until you get your otp to get squashed, though. Or, if you're one of those people (Like me) who has to finish a story once they start reading it, you may want to just take your leave right now. IkexMarth fans...bear with me. I am one of those people, so I'll just have to bear with myself. You guys will get your time.

Despite this antipathism of IkexPit, I will try to be as judicial as I can while writing them. As much as I don't like it, it's something I'll have to learn to do, I suppose.

And now, hurr. Onto the story?

* * *

"Mmmn. Ikeeeeeeeee..." the high-pitched drawl ended in what sounded like a mewl as the petite angel turned in his lover's arms. The mercenary set his head on the angel's shoulder in the dark, cuddling Pit's neck. The two of them were laying next to each other on the double bed that took up about a quarter of the space in their room. Pit was snuggled into his lover's chest, and Ike's arms were absently wrapped around the angel's back.

"What is it, Pit?" Ike breathed calmly, rubbing the angel's back comfortingly.

The angel giggled. "I love you, Ike..." he trailed off, hugging back with more enthusiasm and nuzzling the mercenary's chin with his mess of light brown hair. This caused the swordsman to chuckle, but other than that he said nothing.

Pit tried again. "I'll never leave you." he said, giggling a little. "I'm all yours, Ike."

Again, Ike said nothing. He was still rubbing the angel's back in a reassuring rhythm, but he was staring over Pit's shoulder, apparently deep in thought.

Pit pulled away, staring unblinkingly into Ike's bright blue eyes. After a minute or so, Ike stopped petting the angel's back and returned the stare.

"Ike..." he began, staring down at the swordsman's chest. "D...Do you not feel the same way about me?" He sounded genuinely worried...and hurt. The mercenary's eyes widened, unaware that all of his thinking was leading Pit down the wrong path thought-wise.

"No, of course not! ...Pit?" he asked softly, for the angel had looked away. Ike grabbed Pit's chin with his thumb and forefinger, and pulled his face up for a quick kiss. "Pit, of course I do." Ike grinned and ruffled the angel's hair. He was stroking his love's brunette hair when Pit yawned and fell slowly to sleep. Ike kissed the top of his head and whispered a small goodnight, to which Pit responded with wrapping his limbs around Ike's body--keeping him right where he was.

"Goodnight Ike. I'll never leave you..." he murmured into the mercenary's chest. He was silent while he waited for a similar expression from his lover, but there was nothing but his warm hand on the angel's head. Pit giggled and snuggled closer, realizing that Ike had fallen asleep a while ago and had dozed off with his head resting half on the pillow, and half in Pit's forest of brown hair.

Eventually, Pit fell asleep as well.

It was probably the best sleep he'd had since he had arrived.


	2. Justice and Revenge

Marth laughed out loud in anticipation as he faced his opponents. He was somehow roped into a team battle, Zelda on his side, and Ike and Pit facing him. The castle siege seemed an appropriate enough place for their duel; There were more than enough denizens present from the Fire Emblem worlds.

Ike caught his gaze and waved good-naturedly, Pit clinging to his arm and smiling at the two of them. The prince then, in turn, diverted his attention elsewhere as his good friend and the little angel proceeded with an unceremonious kissfest in a tiny alcove on the castle's roof. He ended up in a conversation with Zelda about a few topics that he didn't really feel were all too important.

"There's nothing really…wrong…with it, I suppose, Prince Marth. But it just frightens me that someone like Solid Snake could come waltzing into my room unprecedented any time he wants!" the Hylian exclaimed. Marth nodded, half paying attention.

"Well, there are locks to prevent things like that, you know," he began, fussing with his hair idley, "I'm sure you could come across one and end all this needless worrying."

Zelda huffed. "If it were that easy, I wouldn't be complaining! I just don't understand why Master Hand decided to make the floors all co-ed this year. We do all get our own rooms, and I suppose it is cheaper, but—" The princess was interrupted when a booming cough exploded over the intercom. She pursed her lips and stared up, the Altean following suit.

"Match four! Zelda and Marth versus Ike and Pit!"

The countdown began, and Marth unsheathed his thin blade, holding it directly out in front of him in all seriousness. The only thing that destroyed his composure was a feral smirk on his facial features. He had been wanting to face Ike for a long time coming, and he was pleased to be given the chance. Zelda seemed to understand what he was preparing for, and made a mental note to stick to attacking the little angel on her opposite side.

Ike and Pit, evidently satisfied with their public displays of affection, detached from one another; Ike returning Marth's smirk and grabbing the dark hilt of his own sword, and Pit holding his double blades out in front of him, crouching down from his waist and fluttering his wings in a challenge. The princess opposite him only crossed her delicate arms and chuckled at him.

"GO!"

While the countdown was unheard in each brawler's concentration in preparation, that one word was enough to shock each participant into a proper fighting spirit. Ike and Marth charged toward one another, each one repelling the other's sword in a deadlock whenever they got too close. They had preformed at least ten of these sword dances in the first few seconds, both grinning from ear to ear at the opportunity to test the other's skill.

The other two members involved were not nearly as zealous. Pit had flown himself atop the small alcove where he was previously with Ike, simply staring at Ike and Marth below him with worried eyes. Zelda took the opportunity of his distraction to shift shapes to Sheik and run up in front of him, a small dagger in front of her. It didn't seem to phase the angel, who just kept staring down at the other two fighters; much more like a hawk than anything else that had wings. Sheik sighed and grabbed him by the collar.

"You'd best start taking me seriously, angel boy. I'm not just going to sit around and watch _you_ sit around and watch the fight. You're in this fight, you'd better start acting the part." With those words, she threw him behind her and gave chase, prepared to knock him in the air. Finally snapping out of his trance, Pit took flight to avoid being stabbed, and tore his bow apart into two blades, chasing Sheik vigorously with them and trying to land a single hit without much avail. He still tried to remain in eyeshot of the two swordsmen, however, as he didn't want to take his eyes off them for even a second. He didn't trust the prince, for some reason. They'd barely met, but the hungry stare in his eyes gave the angel chills. His swordplay was meager at best in his fit of distraction, and Sheik knocked him off the available stage, causing him to lose a stock and reappear on a floating platform above the castle.

Just as the angel was about to jump down to the stage again, what was once the outside of a castle began to warp and shift uncontrollably. All four combatants were knocked around as if they weighed nothing on the topsy-turvy stage. When it finally stopped shifting, the castle became the inside of what appeared to be an ancient temple. The stones used to build it had long since yellowed and become fragile. Ike getting thrown into one of the support columns didn't help this, and one of the walls came crashing down on top of him. Pit tensed, but was too busy trying to save himself from Sheik to do much. Marth tensed as well, but started walking towards the pile of rubble cautiously.

"Hey Ike, you in here somewhere?" He stared at the pile of debris, and then further behind it. It looked like total blackness. Surely anyone who had walked that far would be cut off and lose a stock. He was aimlessly digging through the stones when he felt something come up behind his back. He didn't know who or what it was, but there was a disturbance in the air behind him. He turned just as the figure spoke.

"Hey." Ike's voice was low, but strong. The prince turned to see a smirk plastered on his face. "Sorry to disappoint you, but I'm not in there." He chuckled and sent Marth flying with a swing of Ragnell. The teal-haired male barely knew what hit him as he was sent careening off the stage and appeared on the floating platform. He was already speaking before he got back down to where Ike was standing.

"..dirty bastard! Did you kill yourself just so you could do that?" Although he was cursing and insinuating Ike out, he was still grinning stupidly. Ike half expected him to burst into laughter. What he didn't expect was falchion thrust straight in his face. The mercenary thought he saw a few strands of his hair fall out before his eyes. Marth smirked just as Ike brought his sword out for another deadlock, and their unchoreographed dance resumed.

Pit finally managed to get Sheik when she was down, and sent her flying off to the side. She transformed back to Zelda in hopes of teleporting back to where it was safe, but the angel flew up to her and knocked into her once again, causing her to lose a stock. Pit was pretty pleased with himself, and he stared down to his companion to see if he was having as much luck. He was planning to come up behind the prince and surprise attack him, but as he flew down to the first floor of the temple, it lurched and warped again, causing Marth and Ike to separate and Pit to go flying off into nowhere.

Once it had finished its change, the temple had become a floating panel of rock that teetered whenever there was too much weight on one side. Zelda, having recovered, jumped from her floating platform, after Pit, intent on finishing him off in the air. However, after a few kicks on both brawlers' parts, a glowing orb was released out of what appeared to be nowhere. The angel lunged for it, and attacked it a few times, but failed to open it as Zelda kicked him in the back. Pit was sent flying off in the downwards direction, and his last stock had been used up. He was teleported to what could only be accurately described as a waiting room.

Zelda shortly transported into the same room, as she had not succeeded in recovering from the air and fell shortly after kicking Pit off. The two of them stared at one another, then they both turned to face a large screen in which the two remaining swordsmen were in yet another deadlock.

Marth was still grinning like crazy, and then he suddenly disappeared from view. The mercenary tensed, looking around him for any signs that the prince was going to jump him and finish him off from above. However, the prince did no such thing and was still remotely invisible.

Pit had assumed that Ike had knocked him clear off the stage, and clapped a few times in glee. He was so distracted that Zelda had to point out to him that Marth was on a far end of the stage, and…_glowing?_

Ike still didn't appear to see Marth anywhere, as he had given up on hit combat position; standing straight up and holding Ragnell over his shoulder. He was still staring around aimlessly when he felt something behind him. He quickly spun around and dragged his sword back to its original position, eyes darting around frantically. Once again, a wind on his other side caused his cape and a few loose strand of his hair to blow. But as he turned around this time, it was too late, and the tip of Falchion connected with his chin. Marth was glowing in more ways than one as he quickly followed that attack with a much stronger blow to the chest, the aura leaving him as he sent Ike off with a Final Smash, the mercenary cursing the whole way. Ike disappeared after flying for a few seconds, and a column of white light shot out from where he had flown. Marth chuckled just as the match was deemed over.

--

After the 'award's ceremony,' as it was generally called, Marth had left Zelda to go back to his room. As he exited the coliseum-like enclosure, he noticed Pit leaning on one of the walls and staring out into space. "Pit!" he called, waving.

The angel's ears perked up and he turned to face Marth, who was smiling at him like they were the best of friends. Pit growled in his throat, but heaved himself off the wall, deciding that now was the best time to talk to the prince.

"So, Marth…" Pit began, emerging from his position leaning on the wall and walking along with the prince. "You fought pretty well today." His voice was invisibly dripping with poison. "I certainly wasn't expecting Ike to get knocked out like that…" The prince chuckled knowingly and smiled, staring straight ahead.

"I'm sure it was mostly fluke," he admitted, "I was just as surprised as you were. The power of these final smashes will never cease to amaze me, I think." He chuckled again, spinning the hilt of Falchion loosely in his hand. He was staring at the gems embedded in his sword for a while, before he noticed that Pit was no longer walking with him. He looked around in confusion. As he turned to face behind him, he was met with a slap square to the face. The prince's eyes widened in shock, and his cheek immediately started numbing. He gazed straight ahead dazily, cupping his reddened cheek with one hand. Pit was floating just above ground so he was at eye-level with Marth. There was an incomprehensible hatred in his eyes that scared Marth to the core. Wasn't he an angel?

"Don't you ever _ever _do _anything_ like that again. Do you hear me?" Marth was still in a daze. Was he really being stared down by Pit, of all people?

"Wh…What do you mean? What did I do?!" he was shrieking by the end of his defense statement. He received a punch to the arm, which started bruising right away, for his ignorance. As a reflex, he moved his free hand to brush over his arm, giving it a sympathetic glance. Pit drew closer and grabbed the prince by the collar of his shirt, holding him off the ground with his own floating height. Marth just continued to stare at him, pupils darting around like crazy and looking for some explanation.

"You know exactly what you did! You beat the chicken out of _my _Ike! You knocked him clear off the stage, Marth! And then…you were laughing about it?!" The prince resisted the urge to laugh—was Pit really mad about something so trivial? He seemed pretty livid.

"I…I—" in the middle of his profound statement, Pit threw him down to the ground. He landed directly on his head. While he wasn't too far up, there was a lot of force behind his throw. A tiny trickle of blood started seeping from somewhere above his forehead. He felt ill. As he struggled to stand, he felt something hit him in the chest.

Marth barely noticed he was stabbed until he looked down at himself. It only made him even more sick—in fact, he felt like vomiting just at the sight of his chest. One of Pit's two blades had been savagely thrust into the fabric of his tunic, and farther still through the soft skin of his stomach. It wasn't going completely through his body—thank the gods Pit's blades weren't long enough for that. The prince's eyes dipped in and out of focus, attempting to concentrate. He opened his mouth to speak, but all he could get out was a choked murmur before a small torrent of blood spilled over his lips and down his chin. His eyes were once again playing with him—he could barely make out shapes anymore as they drifted shut. In the distance, he saw a flash of blue coming closer to the two of them, but he shut his eyes and dangled from the tip of the angel's blade, slumping over.

He felt something being dislodged from his chest as Pit brutally tore his blade out from its previous place. The prince heard someone screaming in agony that sounded an awful lot like him, but he couldn't tell who it was…

--

Ike immediately rushed over to where his lover and best friend were standing. Or rather, Pit was standing, and Marth was making an attempt to stand while cupping his hand over a gruesome stab wound near his stomach. He was swaying like crazy. The mercenary stared from one of them to the other, in total shock. Pit only stared back, his face an equal mask of horror, particularly when Ike's wandering eyes made their way down to his weapon. It reeked of iron, and the unmistakable sight of ruby blood rusting up an otherwise shiny blade caught his attention. Once again, Ike stared from one of them to the other, his body frozen as he put the pieces together.

Before the mercenary could say anything, the prince toppled over, holding one quivering arm on the ground to attempt to keep himself up, the other hand still cupped precariously around his hissing cut. He was hacking, doubled over in extreme pain as what happened finally dawned on him and his adrenaline gave out. Little spots of the same bright red blood appeared in the dirt and grass by his face, and it seemed to be showing no sign of slowing down. He dug the fingers of one of his hands into the dirt, still trying to keep himself steady as he found out vaguely what his insides looked like.

The eldest male saw Pit moving in on Marth again, holding his already bloodied weapon in front of him, and Ike sprinted to Pit's back.

"Pit, quit it! You're going to kill him!" Ike acted upon instinct and wrapped both his arms through Pit's and around his shoulders, holding him and keeping his arms out of reach of Marth. The angel flailed in his arms, but Ike's grip was extremely tight. Pit turned and threw Ike a ferocious snarl.

"Quit it?! BUT HE ATTACKED YOU! YOU COULD'VE BEEN HURT!" he flailed some more, although fruitless, and begged Ike with his body language to just have one more good shot at the writhing prince in front of him.

"PIT! CHRIST, IS THAT WHAT YOU'RE MAD ABOUT?! THAT WAS A BRAWL, PIT! IT'S A GAME! I'M NOT HURT!" Ike was shouting directly into his ear, equally as outraged as the angel was. Ike shook him wildly. "WHAT YOU'RE DOING RIGHT NOW…GOD, PIT!" he gave Marth what was meant to be a sympathetic stare, but seeing him completely beaten up, having trouble standing and poorly nursing the large, overflowing wound in his chest only fueled the mercenary's anger.

Before he could continue his yelling, the prince dizzily stood up, still wrapping an arm around himself and trying to stop the blood flow as best he could. He shuffled meekly right past Ike and Pit, saying nothing and swaying in all directions. He didn't appear to be moving very fast, but he was moving. He didn't turn back once to look at Ike holding Pit back. He could hear them shouting, but if they were shouting at him, he didn't care.

Pit and Ike were speechless as Marth tripped his way back to his room. The angel broke the silence first, and turned around in Ike's arms so he was facing him. The mercenary was still staring at the retreating prince's back. Pit took his face in his hands, fluttering up higher. "Ike…" he stared straight into Ike's deep blue irises that were still fighting with his eyelids to see the prince again. Having his head turned only made seeing him harder, but he didn't give up. The angel sighed and kissed Ike delicately on the lips, trying to comfort him but also asking—pleading—for his attention. The mercenary kissed back, and he could feel Pit smile. He wrapped his arms more conventionally around his back, petting his wings with one hand, and holding him up with the other.

However, his eyes just couldn't keep themselves away from the splotch of blue that was the prince, and he wasn't paying any attention at all to what he was doing.

* * *

**Author's Sentiments:**

And...yeah. That's it. XD Hope you all enjoyed this chapter. Sorry to all loyal Marth fans for beating him up like that. It wasn't vital to the plot but I liked the idea. I'm a Marth fan too, though, so don't fret! I won't beat him up too badly!

…or will I?

Haha, Pit went a bit crazy. But he seems like the type who would get incredibly mad over something like that. Whether he would nearly kill the perpetrator I suppose, is another story, but I liked it so I rolled with it.

And since I really can't write fighting. The match was a two-stock team battle if none of you could tell. Eheh.

Reviews are great!


	3. A Death Trap

As soon as he was free of his angel, Ike sprinted to Marth's room and burst through the door. It seemed his room was left untouched except for his bed. He was laying on top of it in a loose fetal position, stomach down, his chest still seeming to bleed, and still coughing up small drops of blood. The mercenary's fists clenched, but he figured anger would do nothing to help the situation. He ran over to Marth's side and half-knelt.

"Marth! Marth, are you okay? Marth, wake up!" Upon his rushed command, the prince's eyelids fluttered and he opened his eyes tiredly. His eyes resembled those of a dead man.

"Ike, you're here…hey…" he muttered, coughing a little in between his words. "I…I meant to go to doctor Mario…but…I couldn't make it that far…" Marth's back arched even more as he continued to cough up blood. With this newfound vision of his sheets, Ike's stomach lurched to his throat. Although the prince had been aiming to hide his stab wound, there was a viable pool of blood on the sheets, still glistening wet. Marth saw his stare and smiled apologetically. "S…Sorry you had to see that."

Ike shook his head and stood up, flipping the prince over so his chest was in the open air. He winced as the air stung his cut, but stared up at the mercenary, who seemed to be pulling one of his now bloodstained sheets from the bed. Once succeeding in getting it off, Ike hurriedly lifted the prince's back up from his bed and wrapped the sheet carefully around his stomach as tight as he could without it getting uncomfortable. One he tucked the remaining end of the sheet inside his makeshift wrap, he swept Marth up into his arms, holding his head of teal hair beneath his chin, and started to sprint to the brawler's clinic. If anyone saw him dashing through the halls with a near-to-death Marth in his arms, they didn't care enough to stop him.

He arrived, bursting through yet another door in his hurry, and barking aimlessly at the doctor's office. "Yo! Doctor Mario! Get your ass out here!" The doctor quickly appeared, took one look at Ike and Marth, blood on both of their chests and slowly starting to show through the thin, pale blue sheet wrapped around Marth's, and commanded Ike to lay him down on the cot in the front room. Ike did so just as Doctor Mario came to his side and started hastily unwrapping the sheets. His face paled.

"What-a happened to him-a?" He was in such a rush his accent became more prominent as he stripped Marth of his shirt and the makeshift bandage, pulling out healing salve and a roll of bandage tape. Ike shut his eyes, his lids tensing.

"He was stabbed…It's…not going all the way through but I think it was deep…There's probably a cut on his head, too. And a bruise on his arm…" Ike rattled off as many of the injuries as he could remember in his previous hasty examination, folding over in a chair and holding his mouth with one hand.

Doctor Mario nodded as he quickly checked the pulse in one of the prince's hands. Ike opted to hold the other one, rubbing his palm in a way that was meant to be apologetic. "Did-a this-a happen in a match-a? Should-a I talk to-a Master Hand-a? Are the recovery-a systems mal-a functioning?" Ike shook his head.

"No to everything." He replied flatly, staring at Marth's frail hand in his. "Someone…stabbed him outside of a match…Out of spite or something, I guess..." He made a short, choking sound that was indecipherable. Doctor Mario just continued nodding, applying something of a salve onto Marth's chest. The prince crushed his eyes shut, and tensed all over as the wound hissed at him.

"Did you-a see who did it?"

Ike didn't respond at first, but instead took a deep breath and squeezed Marth's hand. He turned his attention to the exit door which was suddenly vitally interesting.

"…No…I didn't…" he sighed and closed his eyes again. "…sorry."

Doctor Mario acted as if he hadn't said anything as he first bandaged the stab wound, then wrapped another, softer cloth bandage around the medical one. He lifted Marth's back up and ran the soft bandage around his chest a few times before pinning it near his side and laying him back down. He turned to face Ike, who opened his eyes in response.

"He-a should be fine-a. He needs-a someone to watch over-a him though-a. You-a have a roommate… I suppose-a you can keep him here-a if you want…" Ike shook his head.

"I'll do it. He doesn't have a roommate, so I'll just sleep on his floor or something… What do I have to do?"

"Nothing too-a special." The doctor replied, "Just-a if you-a see any blood come-a through his bandages-a, you need-a to bring him back here-a immediate-aly." Ike nodded in response, and picked Marth up much the same way he had to bring him down, but much more gingerly. He felt so fragile. He also must've fallen asleep in the doctor's office, as he was breathing evenly, eyes still closed.

"Alright, doc. I'll just keep an eye on him tonight then…" he trailed off as he left the clinic and returned to Marth's room. He set him down in a chair for a while before spotting clean sheets in his closet. He changed the sheets, and balled the dirty ones up for him to deal with later. Once his bed was livable, the mercenary set Marth down in it and pulled the comforter up over him. Ike himself tossed the old sheets in a corner and sat down in a chair that he had pulled up to Marth's bedside. He hunched over, his mouth in his hand again, when the door was slowly pushed open. Pit's head came into view, an expression of worried pain on his features.

"Is…Is he okay?" he asked softly, as not to wake him. Ike only shook his head, his mouth still resting in his palm. The angel's wings fluttered and he looked down sympathetically. He drew closer to Ike, pulling his chin out of his hands and looking at him in the face. To his horror, Ike pulled away, and hunched over more to lean into his hand again.

"Ike… I'm sorry…" Pit started. Ike cut him off by shaking his head again and saying only, "Pit, sorry. I really need to be alone right now. Can you just…leave?" Pit lowered his head, defeated, and gave Ike one last retreating stare to confirm that he had not moved before he slipped out the door, closing it quietly behind him.

* * *

**Author's Sentiments:**

Eeh. I hope some people actually like this story. Fffff looking back on it the idea seemed kinda muddled and it doesn't really do the characters justice and Marth got stabbed.

Anyway, this ends my BIG HUGE THREE-CHAPTERS-ONE-RIGHT-AFTER-THE-OTHER-RAMPAAAAAAAGE so expect updates at a usual rate from me now. XD Now you guys know what's been distracting me so much from One.


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